This article will discuss how to detect identity theft on your credit reports and to get them removed.

The first thing you need to do is obtain a free copy of your credit report from the three credit bureaus: equifax, experian and trans union.

You can do this by going to annualcreditreport.com and ordering a copy.

Generally to detect identity theft you will see accounts on your credit reports that do not belong to you or a bunch of hard inquiries appearing for someone who is trying to obtain credit in your name.After you have pulled your credit report and identified the accounts that do not belong to you there are two things you need to do.

The first is file a police report and list in the report all the accounts that you do not recognize.

The second is to file an affidavit with the Federal Trade Commission explaining how your identity was stolen.

If you are applying for a job, insurance or for an apartment there is a good case that they will run a background check on you.

The good news is that if you were denied one of these because of a false background check, you may be able to sue that company.The first step is you need to find the company who handled the background check.

The employer, apartment agency or insurance company should give you a copy of this information.

If they do not, then they are violating the law.

It should be free or the company who ran your report should have given you a copy.Once you have your background report you will need to find the source of the error and obtain proof that the error is inaccurate.

Once you have identified the error and where it came from you need to write a dispute letter to the background check company.The dispute letter needs to highlight what is inaccurate on your report.

The best way to dispute credit report errors is to obtain proof that the account is an error.

Generally, there are three types of credit report errors: identity errors, account status inaccuracies, and data management mistakes.Identity errors are mistakes in your identification portion of your report.

This could be a misspelling of your name, showing an address you have never lived at or having phone numbers listed that you have never used.

These types of errors are harmless and generally do not have any negative effect, so you need not be concerned with them.

The only exception to this would be if you are the victim of identity theft.

If you are then file a police report and fill out an ID theft affidavit with the Federal Trade Commission.

A common question consumers ask is how to fix credit report errors?

You can obtain a free copy of your credit reports from annualcreditreport.com.

Once you have copies of your credit reports you will need to gather all materials and documents that show the credit reporting error.

You can be as creative as you want with this but it is imperative to have something in writing to show the account is inaccurate.

Credit repair companies send frivolous dispute letters to the bureaus and it can actually hurt your chances of getting an error fixed.

Most likely though, the bureaus will mail you back a boilerplate letter saying that they have looked into your dispute and verified it is accurate.

Here is a lawyer's secret to dispute credit report errors, so pay close attention.

This is where someone steals your personal identification and applies for loans in your name.

A way to combat this is to file a police or FBI report identifying the theft and to file an identity theft affidavit with the Federal Trade Commission.The last type of common error is where the account did belong to you but it is reporting inaccurately.

This could be the account was previously paid, closed, is older than seven (7) years, appears multiple times or is showing an incorrect balance.

For these accounts you need to obtain some type of document showing the inaccuracy.

The next step is to write a well written dispute letter to the credit bureaus explaining and proving the error with these documents.

At Cook Law we would argue that it is a law firm or attorney who knows the credit reporting laws, is competent in how credit scoring works and has experience in suing the credit bureaus and furnishers.Fixing your credit is an easy process that takes time.

Make timely payments, pay down your debt, do not apply for a bunch of loans or lines of credit and make sure your debt to income ratio is reasonable.

Debt to income ration means the amount of credit available to you compared to the amount you use.

For example, if you have a credit card with only a five-hundred dollar balance and spend five-hundred dollars a month then this will hurt your credit.

However, if you have a credit card with five-thousand for a line of credit and only spend five-hundred a month then this helps your credit because you are only using ten percent of your available credit.If you have negative accounts on your credit report that need removed, you do not need a credit report specialist to get these items off as you can do it yourself.

You need to find what is inaccurate about these items.

However, at Cook Law we have a firm understanding of how the dispute process works knowledge of how credit scoring is calculated and experiencing in suing credit bureaus, furnishers and collection agencies to get negative items removed.

I will share some of the highlights of the book.

The best secret is to never use a credit repair company as they are not licensed, are non-attorneys and take your money for doing something you can do on your own.

You can only get disputed and inaccurate items removed.

Otherwise, your dispute letter to the credit bureaus needs to identify the accounts that are inaccurate, explain why they are inaccurate and to provide tangible proof.

Your letter needs to be as detailed as possible and include all forms of written proof you can obtain.

A credit repair lawyer is a tough thing to find.

If you have an item on your report that is wrong, inaccurate, disputed, or not yours then you can file a written dispute to the credit reporting bureaus.

Once you have identified what is inaccurate on your credit report you need to write a detailed dispute letter to the credit bureaus and tell them how that item is inaccurate or incorrect.

Including proof of the inaccuracy or a police report is also a must.

Make sure you also save copies of everything you send to the bureaus and all bureaus responses back to you.

They send multiple disputes to the credit bureaus and hope they do not respond.